Category Archives: Causes

There is massive gender inequity in Wikipedia – both in terms of topics/people represented, and contributors. We can change that! Come learn the basics of Wikipedia editing to increase representation of/boost access to the work of marginalized artists, activists, and game-changers.

Wesleying stands in solidarity with our custodial workers in their fight to be treated with dignity and respect as they clean and care for our campus. We affirm their demand for Wesleyan to hire five more workers, and offer our platform and support to the workers and students who are organizing to achieve this.

This comes just two weeks after United Student/Labor Action Committee (USLAC) organized a series of protests and disruptions during WesFest to call attention to the unreasonable workloads of our school’s custodians and to demand that Wesleyan hire five more workers. (If you want to know more about the WesFest actions, the Argus did a great jobcoveringthem.)

Since WesFest, the administration has failed to take action on (or take seriously) the protesters’ demands and workers’ testimonies, citing data shared in an all-campus email from Chief Administrative Officer, and Treasurer Andy Tanaka on Wednesday, April 24 as justification. USLAC responded by sharing a point-by-point rebuttal of the “facts” presented in Tanaka’s email.

A graph compiled by USLAC to explain perceived flaws in the administration’s data analysis

As mentioned in these documents, there have been new developments with regard to the legality of Wesleyan and SMG’s employment practices. On Friday, April 19, Wesleyan students and custodians worked together to file a National Labor Relations Board charge against Service Management Group (SMG), a custodial services subcontractor, and Wesleyan University as joint employers. This occurred after custodians and students reviewed SMG’s corporate handbook and identified several violations of federal labor law.

Read on to learn more about the violations, their significance, and to view the full redacted complaint.

Join us for Wesleyan Refugee Project‘s second annual ‘Advocacy Week’! Throughout the week, various artists and activists will be visiting campus to perform and speak about storytelling through art. Events include film screenings, panels, fundraisers, and performances by local artists. This week is intended to spark conversations both on and beyond Wesleyan’s campus about art as a form of activism, empowerment, or other times as exploitation. By raising these questions, we hope to re-examine our definitions of crisis, activism, art, and agency. We also hope to think critically about how we frame and engage with one another’s voices.

Written by Ben Silverstone ‘22 and Ernest Braun ‘22 on behalf of WesDivest, Climate Action Group, WesDems, Sunrise, and a coalition of other sustainability groups, this guest post addresses climate injustice and what Wesleyan must do now to ensure our planet’s future:

“12 years from now, in 2031, Wesleyan will celebrate its bicentennial anniversary. In 2030, the UN’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) warns that we will reach environmental tipping points that will speed up the pace of the climate crisis. The catastrophic warming resulting from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels which has already begun to ravage our planet will be irreversible for millennia. As the students, faculty, and administration reflect upon Wesleyan’s accomplishments over the past 200 years, perhaps they will wonderwhatWesleyan may look like in another 200 years, or even in 50. Unless we take drastic actions to reduce our emissions now, we already know the answer to that question.

We are WesDivest. We formed to urge the administration to divest our endowment from the fossil fuel industry, to commit to renewable energy and reduced consumption, and to lead by example in the fight for the futures of our generation. We formed because all of human civilization is implicated in the same challenge for the next decade: to stop greenhouse gas emissions before we make the planet uninhabitable. With this challenge in mind, any institution that ignores the reality of climate change is contributing to its own demise and doing a moral disservice to humanity. Therefore, all people who are invested in Wesleyan’s enduring success – and that of its students – should seriously consider divestment from fossil fuels and begin building a more sustainable future.

ATTENTION WESLEYAN STUDENTS AND GREATER PUBLIC: YOUR ACTIONS ARE NEEDED TO SUPPORT THE YOUTH OF THE NORTH END & MIDDLETOWN

*IF YOU CAN’T ATTEND THIS MEETING, THERE ARE OTHER IMPORTANT STEPS YOU CAN TAKE (see: Email Banking & Petition instructions in the Facebook Event)*

MEETING: On February 27th, there will be a community meeting during which the proposed resolution will be considered by Finance & Government Operations Commission about which organization that will be given access to the building formerly occupied by the Green Street Arts Center will be announced. Currently it is between the Middletown Green Community Center (MGCC) and St. Vincent de Paul. We are urging that the building go to MGCC for the reasons listed in the email banking script. This City decision is crucial for ensuring the well-being of the youth of the North End and Middletown!!! Attend this community meeting to show your support for MGCC.

check out these ~sexy~ new sticker designs from our very own sdz (and our classic logo ones are back too)

Hey campus, how’s it going? Grinding tension of the academic experience just starting to build up? Same. Well, we have stickers to solve your problems. You might wonder, what purpose does a blog without a brand (okay, let’s be real, we definitely have a brand, and it is silly tweets and bad jokes) have for merch?

Well, first of all: we think these stickers are really, really cool and we like them a lot. That should be reason enough. But, unfortunately, it’s not.

We need money.

I know what you’re thinking. “Wesleying, I thought you were on our side in the struggle against the pressures of capitalism?” We are, but existing on the internet isn’t free. Our servers cost $25/month (up from $5 a month) and we have domain name expenses.

Wesleying has existed for 13 years (l’chayim!) as the only student publication at Wesleyan that has not received a single dime from the SBC. We are not a registered student group and don’t intend to become one. We think it insulates us quite uniquely from a lot of institutional pressures, so we can say whatever the fuck we want, pretty much (without being assholes).

But WHERE CAN I GET THESE STICKERS?!?!?!?!? We’ll be posting on Twitter and Instagram when/where we are selling stickers! We’re a very personable blog, and we want to meet you, our dear readers/supporters! If you can’t seem to catch us around campus, you can DM us on any of our socialmediaaccounts, or shoot us an email at staff[at]wesleying[dot]org!

A lot of this is recycled text (thx wilk) from recycled text from two years ago (thx Maya) from recycled text from three years ago (thx Samira), but here are some tips and guidelines for submitting your events!

HEY WESLEYAN COMMUNITY!

Did you know that we post events? Wondering if you should submit your event? Well, you should! Wesleying gets anywhere from 500 to 1,200 views per day as of late. Submitting your event to be posted here is good for ~exposure~ and also a way to reach different audiences than those reached by Facebook’s weird algorithm.

We love posting your events, but we get a lot of them. If you want your meeting/audition/application deadline/concert/thing posted to Wesleying on time, please use this form here. This time of the year is especially busy which makes our inbox quickly burst at the seams, so it helps if you submit your event at least 4 or 5 days in advance.

Wesleyan Refugee Project is a hosting a late night bakesale in Exley to benefit the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees fund a container program!

Wesleyan Refugee Project believes that one of the best ways to support refugees is by fundraising with organizations that have strong connections to local NGOs in conflict areas that directly send aid to those in need.

That’s why we decided to ship a container of life-saving humanitarian aid to Syria through the Fund A Container program.

The donations raised will help send a whole shipping container of relief supplies (i.e. food, clothing, and medical supplies) to Syria.

The good news? We have 60 days to comment. Writing a comment is basically the Education Department version of calling your senators, and it’s the best way to make our voices heard for Title IX.

To write a comment, join the Title IX Student Advisory Committee this Thursday, Dec. 6th in the Downey House Lounge. Drop in any time from 4-7 PM. There will be pizza, information on the proposed changes, and guides for how to write a successful comment. It won’t take long, and it’s the best way to tell DeVos #HandsOffIX.